LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England said on Thursday interest rates probably need to rise sooner and by a bit more than it thought three months ago, after it raised its growth forecasts for Britain due to the strong global recovery.

Below are comments from Mark Carney and other members of the Monetary Policy Committee:

CARNEY ON INTEREST RATE PATH

“In order to bring it (inflation) back to target over a more conventional horizon which means moving it in from that three year horizon that it will be necessary, likely to be necessary, to raise interest rates to a limited degree in a gradual process but somewhat earlier and to a somewhat greater extent than we thought in November.”

BREXIT

“The most important decisions by orders of magnitude that will be taken that affect UK households and businesses and collective prospects for years to come are not going to be taken in Threadneedle Street.”

“But they’ll be taken elsewhere as part of the negotiations this year.”

MARKET VOLATILITY

“What has happened in volatility markets is not an entirely surprising development.”

“What is incredibly important though in this market circumstance is to recognise that we feel quite strongly that the core of the system is in an entirely different place than it was, certainly prior to the crisis, but stretching back over really a quarter century.”

“So there is not the amplification by the core of the system of the volatility in markets, if anything the core will help dampen it.”

INFLATION

“Inflation is expected to remain close to recent rates in the short term, slightly higher than the projection made three months ago, largely as a consequence of recent higher oil prices. It’s possible that inflation could rise back above 3 percent temporarily in the short term.”

ECONOMY “SPEED LIMIT”

“The speed limit of our economy has gone down since the financial crisis, it’s a little more than half of what it was prior to the financial crisis.”

“And that means that what’s relatively modest growth by historic standards means that we put ourselves in a situation where inflationary pressures build and there may need to be adjustments to interest rates.”

INVESTMENT

“Investment is being restrained by Brexit related uncertainties. This remains the shallowest investment recovery in the UK for more than half a century.”

BREXIT IMPACT ON FORECASTS

“The fact that Brexit negotiations entail significant uncertainty does not mean that forecasting is impossible and it’s useful to step back to assess how the economy has performed relative to the MPC’s expectations in order to understand the broader forces at work.”

EXPORTS

“British exporters are in a sweet spot with sterling down 16 percent overall and around 20 percent against the euro in anticipation of a Brexit that has not yet happened.”

HOUSEHOLDS

“Households are reacting to the current levels of real income, which as we all know have been squeezed, but not making an assessment of the longer term path of income and wealth that could be affected by whatever Brexit scenario there is.”

RATES WON‘T GO BACK TO HISTORIC LEVELS

“We are not talking about going back to those levels (past levels of interest rates) that’s what limited means and we’re not talking about going in that historic pace that’s what gradual means but beyond that.”